The Demons Feast
by Haha Pseudonym
Summary: Max has something stolen from him and to get it back he has to go under cover at a feast full of demons. But what will he find there? Will every one make it out alive? Set after the Fiend and the Forge. Rated for death of some demons.


The Demons Feast

Max was traveling in Russia -or what used to be Russia- when he came across a hunched, old merchant. He decided that he might be able to trade something. He approached the merchant and asked what kind of things he sold and the old merchant replied "Keep sakes and cheap fakes, handy tools and tricks for fools, riddles and rhymes and tales of good times, cures and curses, bags and purses, dreams and wishes, food and dishes." Then in his his raspy voice the merchant said "What might you be after lad?" and Max answered, " Well I'll be happy to trade this map of the area for a compass". "I have a rather handy compass that points to every direction with a labelled hand." said the merchant " but it would be worth more than a map, perhaps…" he said, giving Max a once over. He spotted Max's _Gae Bolga_ "… that sword and if you trade that I'll give you any item you choose for free" Max didn't even pretend to consider it " No, that is definitely not for sale" Max stated firmly "Oh.." said the merchant forlornly, "Well it seems we cannot help each other."

The merchant then packed up his cart, readied it to leave and turned to Max "Nice meeting you, goodbye" then quick as a flash he reached forward and snatched the _Gae Bolga _**and** all of Max's supplies_,_ jumped on his cart and rode away. Of course the _Gae Bolga _came back to Max as no one else could hold onto it for more than a few seconds. Max pitied the poor man for thinking that he could outrun Max McDaniels.

Max tore off after the cart and caught them within seconds. he pounced on top of the merchant and and pinned him. "Give back what you stole, thief" Max growled at the man, but in stead of giving Max his supplies the man began to shift and change into a three meter long snake with giant bats wings. The thing constricted itself around Max's neck but he punched its face and it slithered off towards its cart. The demon coiled itself around Max's supplies and flew away. Max unsheathed the _Gae Bolga, _jumped up and swung the short sword succeeding in cutting off one of its wings. As Max landed, so did the wing hen had cut off. Max looked up, expecting to see the thing spiralling towards him but instead he saw it flying off with another wing in place of the one he had cut off. Damn! Max immediately set to tracking the thing that he automatically knew was a demon.

He followed it through a forrest, over hill and over a lot of flat terrain until they reached the ruins of an old castle. the demon flew into one of the halls that was still in tact. Max decided that it would be best to observe and find out what was going on before charging in. He climbed on of the trees ringing the ruins. This tree happened to have a view right into one of the windows of the hall that the demon had flown into, but it wasn't close enough. Max jumped forward and grabbed onto the window ledge. he pulled himself through the window and jumped, hurtling into the rafters. This was perfect; he had a brilliant view of the room and he was well hidden.

As Max watched, hundreds of humans with slightly demonic features milled about and discussed what was going on. from what Max gathered this was some kind of feast for demons with human disguises. The entire feast was to be spent in their human disguise. "Brilliant," thought Max,"I can go in under cover and get my supplies back".

Max left his hiding spot and leapt outside. He was thinking of a way to make himself look different, when another demon came by disguised as a merchant. Max took his chance and immediately attacked the demon. Max had to kill the demon so that he didn't wake up and blow Max's cover. Inside the demons cart there were multiple things that could disguise him but in the end he decided to use black and white paint, honey, new clothes and some animal horns and teeth. Max painted all his visible skin black and painted Astaroth's seal in white upon his forehead using a mirror he had found in the cart. He then ,made a necklace of animal horns and teeth. He put on the new clothes and the necklace and finally used the honey to make his hair stand up at odd angles. Max still thought it was missing something so he used the runes that Scathach had taught him to write spells and curses all over the visible parts of skin. Max decide to act like a demon and make a dramatic entrance so he lept up to the window he was on before and then jumped into their midst.

Every demon in the hall turned and looked at him to smile and wave a bit then turned back to their conversations. Max was relieved to know that his disguise was working and he sent a silent thank you to David for teaching him the language of the demons after Walpurginsnact. He quickly joined a conversation about the semi-recent events on May Day and informed them that there were rumours of Elias Bram being at the ceremony. The demons gasped and Max said in the demon tongue "I heard it from an imp who heard its master being told by an associate of Aamon's. There was also whispers that Max McDaniels and David Menlo being there. They say that the little sorcerer poisoned Astaroth and that the Hound was wielding a blade the screamed as he fought and that the wounds it inflicted were almost always fatal, that the only one who survived battle with the Hound was Prusius himself." the other demons were oohing and aahing at his know how. When the demons changed to a different topic Max decided that it would be best if he left that conversation in case they asked him about it and he had no idea what they were on about. Max moved from conversation to conversation across the room until he finally came across the demon that had stolen his belongings.

Max heard him bragging about how he had beaten a mystic to get the pack which he waved in the air in front of the other demons. "He came at me while I was with my cart in my merchant disguise, said he wanted to trade something for a compass I looked on his person and saw this wired little short sword that was almost too short to be a sword but too long to be a dagger." bragged the merchant in his raspy voice. "I asked if he want to trade that and get another item for free but the lad said really quickly that it wasn't for sale and I said we couldn't help each other so I packed up my cart and just before I got on I nicked all of his supplies!" said the demon with a cackle. " I rode but the lad caught me so he must have been a mystic. He tackled me but I turned into my demon form and gave the lad a bit of a slap around then flew off with his supplies. Ha! I could have sworn I grabbed his sword but I mustn't have" the demon finished. Just then a bell tolled and a demon announced that it was time for the feast.

All the demons walked to the edge of the hall and a giant table was laid out then some demons walked into the hall carrying human which were bound, gagged and terrified. they were laid on the table and Max knew that the demons were going to eat there souls. He also knew that he couldn't let this happen. Max drew the_Gae Bolga _and charged the demons that had been carrying the humans. Max aimed to kill and every demon was dead before they hit the floor. The demons charged at Max who fought them off with ease. Then the _Gae Bolga_ began screaming and the battle frenzy took over Max. Normally Max would just use a normal sword or some daggers or even a spear but the merchant had stolen all of those. Max realised what was happening and didn't want a repeat of May Day so he sheathed the short sword, disarmed the nearest demon and began to use its weapon. Once all the demons were either dead or incapacitated Max grabbed his supplies and set about freeing the humans. When he was done Max decided that he had to take them to Rowan.

Max told them to stay in the hall while he went to grab the cart of the merchant who had stolen from him. Max ran at top speed only stopping to clean himself off in a river and change back into his normal clothes. he then continued running until he reached the cart Max was slightly tired so he stayed there a bit for a rest. He ate some of the food he found in the cart and drank some of his water. after Max had caught his breath he got on the cart and drove it back to the humans.

As he expected the people didn't recognise him but when he told them that he was the same one who had freed them they relaxed and followed his instructions. Soon they were all on their way to the edge of the continent in the two carts. Two weeks later Max and the people had reached the coast and Max was preparing to launch Ormanheid. Max grabbed the supplies that were still in the carts and the supplies that had been added to the carts and put them on the boat. two more weeks of travelling and they reached the shores of Rowan. Max gave them instructions then sailed off again to experience more of the new world.

**THE END.**


End file.
